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Police: 2 Dead After 5-Vehicle Pileup In Northern Indiana

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WWJ/AP) – Authorities say distracted driving appeared to be factor in a fatal five-vehicle crash involving four trucks and a car along Interstate 65 in northern Indiana.

According to Indiana State Police, truck driven by a 36-year-old Michigan man was stopped for a crash Tuesday afternoon near Lafayette in Tippecanoe County, and a truck pulling a flatbed driven by a man from Sherman, Illinois, was stopped behind him, along with a car.

Police said a box truck driven by 62-year-old man from Florissant, Missouri, was slowing when a truck pulling a car hauler approached. In a news release, police said the driver of that truck — identified as a 31-year-old Plainfield, Indiana man — “apparently was distracted and did not see the traffic had come to a stop.”

The crash pushed the car underneath the flatbed, killing the car’s occupants: 49-year-old Marvin Rea, who was driving, and his passenger, 34-year-old Kelli Nicole Bradley, both of Gary, Indiana.

The Missouri and Indiana truck drivers complained of pain and were taken to a local hospital. The others, including the Michigan man, were not injured.

Police said blood alcohol tests were administered to all the truck drivers.

Both directions of I-65 were closed following the incident, but have since reopened to traffic. An investigation is ongoing.